A new study from Consumer Reports revealed that store brand products, which save the average shopper thousands of dollars every year on grocery bills, are just as good as their name brand counterparts. In head-to-head match-ups the national brands won seven times, the store brands won in three instances, and the remainder of the contests ended in ties.
The savings for people who purchase store brands is significant but many shoppers are still unenthusiastic about trying store brand products. Some of the reasons given are the belief that name brands taste better, while others felt store brands are not of as high quality. Respondents in the age group 18 to 39 years old were most likely to challenge the quality of store brand products. A survey revealed that 84 percent of Americans purchased store brand items in the past year and 93 percent of shoppers who preferred store brand products stated they would continue to purchase them even after the economy recovered. Nationwide store brand products make up about one in four products sold in supermarkets.
Shoppers seem dedicated to certain brands. Some will purchase store-brand paper goods and plastics but at least half of respondents rarely or never buy store-brand wine, pet food, soda or soup. Of the 21 categories tested, name-brands did win seven of them including mayonnaise, mozzarella cheese and frozen French fries. Most of the match-ups resulted in store brand and name brand products actually being of similar quality. A tie did not mean the taste was identical. Both products might have been equally fresh, have good flavor and ingredients but taste different because of the recipe or seasonings used. Some of the products where there was a tie consisted of ketchup, peanut butter and potato chips.
The reason for national brands costing more is not because of what they contain, but because of all of the costs involved with developing and marketing the products so they eventually become a household name.
Source
www.ConsumerReports.org